South Pacific Festival of Arts

Te Ao Hou, 1973, Page 43

South Pacific Festival of Arts by Bill Kerekere My wife and I were lucky to go to Suva, Fiji for the Pacific Festival of Arts held from 6 to 20 May and it was an unforgettable experience indeed. We went with our representatives, the Waihirere Maori Club, who were given great support by the various Polynesian groups from Wellington and Auckland. The Aotea and Te Waipounamu Clubs, and groups from other areas, also made donations towards the cost of the club's trip. We all attended a combined farewell function by numerous organisations in Gisborne the night before departure, and this effort by the group's home town and homefolk, also added to the total donations. We were joined by the Rev, Kingi Ihaka and Manu Ihaka at Auckland, and on arrival at Nausori Airport, were met by our New Zealand High Commissioner, Sir John Here-kiekie Grace and Lady Grace, a gracious gesture considering the late hour of our arrival. We eventually bedded down at our billets at Nasinu Teachers' Training College at 1 a.m. Friday morning, 5 May, in excellent quarters, three storeys high, sleeping two persons per room. At breakfast, we found there were several other groups billeted with us, the New Caledonians (both native and French Europeans), a small group from Nauru Island, and the contingent from Papua and New Guinea—and later we were joined by the large group from American Samoa, and our own countrymen, the members of the Auckland Symphonia, and an Indian group. It was with all these people from various Pacific Islands that we spent the entire two weeks of the festival, eating, sleeping, and living together as one. The Fijian staff on the college campus were extremely friendly, and it was no trouble for them to do things for us. Meals were excellent, and we New Zealanders in particular, enjoyed the luxury of bananas, oranges and other fruit, being served at meals. The weather was wet on our arrival, and the ground was heavy and muddy, but group rehearsals began the day after arrival—checking gear and costumes—practising items—changing sequence of items for programmes of variable duration, then travelling to the Civic Centre to record tracks for the Opening Ceremony, and to Albert Park for rehearsals of movement and presentation with the director. The fact that at this stage the vast arena was covered with surface water and muddy underfoot, did not dampen the enthusiasm of the Maori group, and they entered into the spirit of the occasion—as did all the other groups participating. The Grand Opening Ceremony, in the distinguished presence of His Excellency the Governor-General of Fiji, Sir Robert Foster, the Prime Minister of Fiji, Ratu Sir Kamisese Mara, and the many distinguished guests and visitors from other countries, was a wonderful spectacle of splendour, colour and excitement—and to see the various groups totalling approximately 3,000 members performing before this big and enthusiastic audience, and giving all they had, one forgot that they were all presenting their items in three to four inches of mud and water—they looked as if they were thoroughly enjoying taking part in such a unique and significant occasion—the first combined display of the cultural arts of so many races of the Pacific Islands, Wonderfull! Fantastic! The first part of the programme featured the host people of Fiji—the marvellous music of the Royal Fiji Police and Military Forces Bands—the very dignified Fijian ceremonial rituals of welcome by the chiefs and people of Kubuna, and the complementary Fijian spear dance, the women's standing dance, and the club dance—proud, authentic and appropriate—and the beautiful ribbon dance of the Chinese, the haunting Gujerati folk dance of the Indian people, and the rousing Hallelujah Chorus sung by the multi-racial

Festival Choir. Then followed the spectacular dances of the other Pacific countries, Tonga, Samoa, Australia, New Zealand, the Solomon Islands, the Cook Islands, Papua, New Guinea, the Gilbert and Ellice Islands—each group individualistic and different, unusual and authentic—each one motivated by the pride and prestige of their own race—and each group without exception rising to the occasion brilliantly, and earning the applause and praise of the many many thousands assembled on Albert Park. An auspicious opening for the Festival—an outstanding night for the display of the cultural arts, the traditional songs, dances and rituals of the peoples of the Pacific. Unforgettable! Sir Keith Holyoake with the pro-Chancellor of the University of the South Pacific, Mrs Masiofo Fetaui Mata'afa, and Sir John Grace with Lady Holyoake. From this point on, the Maori group was involved in the programme itinerary itself, performing for enthusiastic audiences at the various official Festival venues, and also moving out to country areas where they were able to entertain the people of the villages. The Maori group also attended special functions and performed the ceremonial rituals of welcome to distinguished guests escorted by the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Sir Keith Holyoake and the New Zealand High Commissioner, Sir John Grace. This was at the University of the South Pacific, when various buildings donated by the New Zealand Government and people to the University, were officially opened. This was the Ngapo Wehi challenges the visitors outside the new 120-bed Hall of Residence, in the complex financed from New Zealand's programme of aid for Asia and the Pacific. only time when the traditional ceremonial rituals of welcome—the wero or challenge, the karanga—the call of welcome, the haka powhiri—posture dance of welcome, and the haka—were seen during the festival, in their appropriate and proper context. The group also attended the reception given by Sir John Herekiekie Grace in honour of Sir Keith and Lady Holyoake at the Grand Pacific Hotel, and provided the kinaki or complementary item for Sir Keith's address of welcome. This was also the first time the women in the group wore their evening gowns with the distinctive Maori motif patterns, and these created considerable interest and favourable comment, as did the Maori kiekie kits they all carried. The party was also entertained by Sir John and Lady Grace in their home. Sir Keith and Lady Holyoake and Sir John and Lady Grace were in the official party that attended the Maori party's main concert in the Civic Hall, which was completely booked out before the Festival began. In between their own performances, the Maoris were able to attend performances by other Pacific races, attend lecture demonstrations, and visit the village of traditional South Pacific houses, where they were able to see and purchase articles made by the people of various Pacific territories—and watch the actual making of tapa cloth, basket and mat weaving, and carvers at work. Watching the various races actually working

on their traditional handcrafts and artifacts, and having them there for display and for sale, we as Maoris did regret that we did not have expert carvers and weavers present to demonstrate our Maori crafts, or even have some examples of these there for display—and our non-participation in this aspect of the Festival was commented on repeatedly by people from other territories. The group were also given time to see the sights of Suva—the Market Place, Fiji Museum, etc., as well as shopping in the city for souvenirs, and visited night spots like the Tradewinds, the Isa Lei, and were helped and guided by many Kiwis now living in Fiji. Some were invited out and tasted the happy hospitality of the Fijians' homes, and some again were fortunate to be invited to a wedding. There were invitations taken up from several New Zealanders who entertained members of the group during periods when the club was not committed. With all the sincere and spontaneous applause of capacity audiences at the various venues of performances, the Waihirere Club created good relationships in many ways apart from public concerts. I can recall the amazement of the staff of the aircraft when club members got up from their seats to help clear away trays—the smiles of gratitude on the faces of the Fijian staff in our dining room when the members got up after meals, cleared away and helped with the dishes, etc., sweeping up around our dormitory rooms and scrubbing out the ablution blocks—all these little things added up to make our stay a happy one. But it was mainly in meeting and talking to people from other places that mattered most—listening to various languages being spoken, and trying to establish similarities—and finding them—asking about customs, dress, the way of life in different places—all these queries and questions—mixing with other people from other parts of the world, learning about them and vice versa. And as time drew close for heading home, socials and parties were held where everyone joined in, and on the day of parting, presentations were made, speeches given, and gifts exchanged spontaneously—the result of eating, sleeping and living together—the spirit of togetherness. We have learnt many things about the world around us at this Festival, and much about ourselves. I am sure that the Waihirere Maori Club have left a good impression with other Pacific races, and with our wonderful hosts of fascinating Fiji. Following the success of this First South Pacific Festival of Arts, I am sure that another will follow—and I am certain, that in order to help the Maori party attending the next Festival, that the leaders of the Waihirere Maori Club, Mr and Mrs B. Wehi, will have some recommendations to make which will help the next representatives of the Maori Race, and New Zealand. On behalf of the Waihirere Maori Club, my wife and I would like to compliment Bill Kerekere on his article, and endorse it. Bill and his wife Mihi, would be the only two people at the South Pacific Festival of Arts to see all the races involved in demonstrating their respective arts and crafts. It was impossible for us, as performers, to see other groups performing, due to being on at the same time or being committed to other venues in Suva. Having Bill and Mihi along solved many problems, such as their appearing as our representatives at performances the group could not attend, and many a group noticed and enjoyed their presence. Prior to our taking part in the National Competitions at Rotorua on 11 March 1972, the women members held a meeting and decided to make a full new uniform of headband, bodice and cloak, and they were also instrumental in the men making their own headband and tapeka. The amazing part of this venture was that in November 1971 we set a date, that all costumes be ready for a final dress rehearsal one week before Rotorua, and completed they were. This is ‘Lesson Number One’ for the club who may have the good fortune to represent our country at another festival in the future. My reason for including the making of

costumes in this report is that had we not undertaken this very wise move, we would surely have suffered certain embarrassment during the South Pacific Festival as all other countries were turned out so immaculately. After Rotorua, our members really worked hard, particularly the womenfolk who, besides making a travelling uniform, also made evening gowns of their own choice of style and colour, highlighted by a Maori motif design placed wherever they desired. Consequently we had 18 happy women sporting the design, style, colour and placement of the motif to their personal satisfaction. To complicate matters further we had three practices a week. The purpose for all this extra work was that we fully realised we were not only representing Waihirere. Takitimu and Tairawhiti, but also New Zealand, and knowing that three practices a week should take care of our stage appearance, we deemed it a ‘must’ that off-stage was just as important. From the announcement date of our going to Fiji until the day of our arrival, we received one letter from the organising committee in Fiji requesting a recording of a number for the opening ceremony. They did not receive the one we sent, so we had to do another recording in Suva. The point I am trying to stress is that we did not have the slightest idea of the type of bracket or the length of our presentation. Fortunately we had decided to rehearse for a one-hour programme, beginning with glimpses into the past, action songs, punctuated by short vigorous hakas, ancient chants and even demonstrating ‘Waiata Poi’ which was half English and half Maori, much to the delight of our audiences. Imagine the shock when we were told on arrival that they required a two-hour programme and we had only one hour. With two days' notice we were back to work during breaks in shows, practising numbers to bridge the two hours. What an upheaval! What started out to be a holiday ended up a working one. The programme we received had us down for three confirmed performances and one unconfirmed. As it turned out we did nine shows, of which four were open air ones in direct Fijian sun, which sapped up the little energy we had left. ‘Point Number Two’—be prepared to do a two-hour show. We were described in one New Zealand paper as being ‘puny’—in number I guess—which was very true, compared with the Tongan's number of 260. At the University of the South Pacific, which was an open air presentation, our 34 performers did remarkably well in the hot sun, and we were followed by this large contingent of Tongans who enjoyed the sun so much that they stayed for 1 ½ hours. ‘Point Number Three’—if at all possible, I would suggest 50 performers at least. Also at the university were displays by all races, of native buildings, carvings and all facets of arts and crafts, which were sold mainly to Americans who priced the ordinary buyer out of the market. We viewed all these displays and were amazed to read in the programme that we were to perform at our Maori village. ‘What Maori village?’ we asked. At this point we experienced an ashamed feeling in not having the surroundings required, knowing full well that back home in New Zealand we had carvers and weavers of the highest calibre. I could not help feeling that we had to go to Fiji to actually experience that one had to leave New Zealand to admire the richness of one's culture. I strongly recommend to the authorities concerned that for future festivals a group of carvers and weavers be included so that other races may have the opportunity to view our fine carvings along with our mat and basket making. One other factor that was most noticeable was that all the other races conversed in their own native tongue. Is it too much to ask leaders of other clubs to endeavour to make a concentrated effort to include our language as part of our club activities. It would almost be a crime for any club leader to go afield without knowing his or her own language, as the general feeling was that a race which loses its tongue is a cursed race. Since returning home I have had a lot of time to retrace some of the aspects of the festival and I am convinced that the other races had at least six months to one year's notice of their appearing at the festival. We had six weeks. To substantiate my thoughts,

I quote the Cook Islands group who are known as the ‘Cook Islands National Arts Theatre Company’, the ‘Australian Aboriginal Theatre’, the ‘Old Tote Theatre Company of Australia’, the ‘Fijian Prizewinning Play’, plus many other presentations such as plays, recitals, poetry readings and others which would require many months of work and practice. I have quoted the groups above to give you an idea of the professional names, and professional they were, particularly the Cook Islanders and the Aborigines of Australia who, I was told, had toured Australia together and were in the process of going to America. These performers have been together for two years. Had we known, we could have presented the play not yet seen in the North Island, ‘The Taiaha and the Testament’, the life story of Te Kooti Rikirangi, founder of the Ringatu Church. What I am trying to convey is that if the South Pacific Festival should be staged again at the same time as the recent one, our New Zealand Polynesian Festival should be held in say October, to give the winning club six months to work something out, as they will be demonstrating with the very best in the South Pacific. I would also like to put in its right perspective the idea most people have of this festival being a competition. It is not a competition. It is far deadlier. It is a demonstration of pride, prestige, dignity and tradition Waihirere club members in their evening wear. Dawson & Kinge of the highest quality. If you can achieve these things you will have done your ancestors, race and country proud. I can only say that the Waihirere Maori Club members did these things to the best of their ability, and furthermore, we have created the impact, we have laid a foundation for other teams. We have done what we journeyed out to do—to create good will amongst other races—so much so that there were scenes of tears and open crying between us and many races on our departure from Suva. During a back stage break I met an Afro-American girl who is studying music at a university in Hawaii. She thoroughly enjoyed the show, especially the traditional numbers and pois. She was amazed at us using European pop tunes without our being faced with a copyright charge. Although we used three European tunes we did this only to show that we were willing to mix our cultures. But this is a point that should be watched. I tried to explain to her and other people my reasons for using pop tunes. I remember saying that in the past Maori tutors said, ‘do this’, and that was that, but today with changing circumstances one cannot continually force cha and hakas down young people's throats—otherwise you would have no membership. Young people look forward to doing a pop tune number as a wee break from the chants, etc. I also pointed out that we Maori folk were the only race at Suva to have ven

tured so far into European life, while a lot of other races still lived in environments similar to yesteryears. Some people were astounded at our command of the English language, especially when they spoke to us in short jerky sentences to which we replied with fluent well-spoken English. We were disappointed at not taking part in the closing ceremony, due to bookings made well before we left for Fiji. The ceremony sarted at 7 p.m. on Saturday, 20 May, and we were booked out on two flights from Suva to Nandi. The first 20 members left the hostel at 5.30 p.m. and the remainder at 9 p.m. so we found ourselves lying about on the floor in the Nandi terminal or sleeping (if we could) on forms, until the ungodly hour of 2 a.m. when we were filed through customs to enjoy softer chairs. We arrived in Auckland at 7 a.m. Sunday, but once again we did not leave Auckland until 8.50 p.m. and arrived home somewhat fagged out at 10 p.m. So in fact we travelled from 5.30 p.m. Saturday until 10 p.m. Sunday with no sleep. Perhaps connecting flights could be looked into. I lay no fault at anyone's feet, for the points I have raised. It did, I feel, appear that up to the National Polynesian Festival date there was some uncertainty as to New Zealand being represented in Fiji. Even if this was so, we are grateful, honoured and more ‘aware’ for the experience of mixing with and seeing other races. Please bear in mind these are not grizzles. The good parts far exceed the small problems. Nevertheless being the first group representing New Zealand, we only experienced these things due to short notice and I merely brought these problems forth so that the group that goes to the next festival can capitalise on some of our experiences. We, the members of the Waihirere Maori Club, had a memorable trip, so much so that we would be available again under the same circumstances, because this is the most unforgettable experience of a lifetime! Thank you New Zealand for the opportunity of going abroad and making our contribution to the arts and crafts of the South Pacific. Finally let me pay tribute to the people of Te Arawa Tribe, who hosted and staged the first New Zealand Polynesian Festival. Without them it would not have been possible. Also the members responsible on the New Zealand Polynesian Festival Committee for their foresight; the judges who were responsible for us going to Fiji; and the Minister of Maori Affairs, the Hon. Duncan MacIntyre, for the generous donation on behalf of the New Zealand Government; the Patea Methodist Maori Club; the South Taranaki Maori Club; the Waikawa Cultural Party, Picton; Turanga Pastorate Junior Cultural Group; Parihimanihi Marae Committee; Tatou Tatou o Tairawhiti Club; Miss L. M. von Siedler, Terence and Lesley Barker; the Ormond School; the Ormond Tavern; Mate Waimotu Maori Cultural Group; the Delamere family; the Ngawari Sunday School Junior Group; the Women's Welfare League; the Tuhura and Reedy families; the Mangatu Haka Group; the Maori Central Competition Committee; the Mangatu blocks; the Arai Matawai blocks; the Turanga Lions Club; the Gisborne Lions Club; Mr H. K. Ngata; the Poho-O-Rawiri Marae; G.M.C. Rugby Football Club; Te Tairawhiti Women's Welfare League; Bryan's Pharmacy and a group who prefers to remain anonymous; plus all the good people who sent telegrams of congratulations and bon voyage and also telegrams which were sent to us on our arrival home. Last but not least I would like to thank the Maori groups of Wellington and also the Island groups who assisted in a huge benefit concert towards our trip, and also in Auckland, the Maori groups and Island groups who assisted in a benefit farewell concert there. Thank you very much all these people who gathered to make it possible for us to go to Fiji. He korero taku, he korero whakaiti. Na o koutou manaaki i ora ai matou i rawahi. Kia kaha, kia toa. kia manawanui. A nei te korero whakamutunga he whakatauaki na o tatou tupuna Ma to rourou Ma toku rourou Ka ora te iwi. No reira e nga iwi o nga hau e wha, tena koutou, tena koutou, me te Atua koutou katoa e manaaki. na Ngapo (Bub) Wehi